Quinter v. Volkswagen of America, 81-1776
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
| Citation | 676 F.2d 969 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-1776,81-1776 |
| Parties | Rodney W. QUINTER v. VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, Volkswagen of Atlantic, Inc., Volkswagenwerk, A. G., Byron Bloch, Appellant. |
| Decision Date | 19 April 1982 |
Page 969
v.
VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, Volkswagen of Atlantic, Inc.,
Volkswagenwerk, A. G., Byron Bloch, Appellant.
Third Circuit.
Decided April 19, 1982.
Page 970
Henry H. Wallace, Wallace, Chapas & Gravina, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellant.
Carl A. Eck, John E. Hall (argued) Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebenek & Eck, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellees.
Before HUNTER and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges, and ACKERMAN, * District Judge.
A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, Jr., Circuit Judge.
This case involves an appeal from a Judgment and Order of the district court finding appellant Byron Bloch in civil contempt for violation of a Protective Order issued by the district court and assessing against Bloch a compensatory fine of $10,000. Bloch challenges the validity of the Protective Order, the applicability of the Order to him, and the district court's finding that he violated the Order.
We conclude that the narrow issue in this case requiring reconsideration by the district court is the fine assessed against Bloch. We remand for the district court to do so in accordance with our findings below.
Page 971
I.
This case arises out of a lawsuit brought in 1976 by plaintiff Rodney Quinter against Volkswagen of America and Volkswagenwerk, A.G. (Volkswagen) to recover damages for injuries sustained in a 1974 accident involving a Volkswagen Beetle. 1 Appellant Byron Bloch, an automobile safety design consultant was retained by Quinter and his counsel, Henry H. Wallace, as a consultant and expert witness.
On January 5, 1979, after a three-hour hearing, Judge Maurice B. Cohill, Jr. granted Quinter's Motion for an Order Compelling Production of Documents and Things for Inspection, Copying or Photocopying. At that same hearing the district court also granted Volkswagen's motion for a protective order to cover certain materials Volkswagen considered trade secrets. Bloch was involved in this hearing to the extent that he provided affidavits for Quinter's submission to the district court in opposition to Volkswagen's motion. The district court denied without a hearing Quinter's Motion for Reconsideration of January 18, 1979, and on January 23, 1979, entered the following order:
AND NOW, to-wit, this 23rd day of January, 1979, after careful consideration of the proposed Protective Order filed by the defendants above-named, pursuant to paragraph 5 of the Order of this Court dated January 5, 1979, said proposed order be and the same hereby is rejected as being unnecessarily burdensome and complex.
In lieu thereof, it is HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that items obtained by plaintiff or his counsel pursuant to discovery in this case are protected, and neither plaintiff nor his counsel shall themselves copy or permit others to copy said items or otherwise use them for any purpose other than that directly and reasonably related to the above-captioned case.
Order of the Court dated January 23, 1979, at App. 47a. 2
Pursuant to this Order, Volkswagen turned over to Wallace in March, 1979, a number of documents, including the document at issue in this appeal, a computerized index list of various crash tests and other tests performed by Volkswagen on its automobiles (Index List). During a visit to Pittsburgh in the summer or fall of 1979, Bloch was given the Index List and a copy of the Protective Order by Wallace.
On November 8, 1979, Bloch participated in an ABC television program called "20/20," which dealt with the crashworthiness of Volkswagen Beetles and the susceptibility of persons riding in Beetles involved in rear end collisions to serious injury. During the program Bloch noted that the Index List was the subject of a protective order and held it up before the television cameras for the viewing audience to see. The district court concluded that the viewing audience was probably unable to read the Index List, but that the narrator, Sylvia Chase, and the television cameramen probably were able to read it.
On December 26, 1979, Volkswagen filed a Motion for Sanctions in response to Bloch's appearance on "20/20." Judge Alan Bloch, to whom the case had been assigned in November, 1979, denied Volkswagen's motion on February 28, 1980. 3 Volkswagen then filed a Petition for a Rule to Show Cause for Adjudication of Civil Contempt
Page 972
for the alleged failure of Quinter, his counsel, Wallace, and Bloch to comply with the district court's Protective Order. Volkswagen charged in its petition that Bloch's use of the Index List on "20/20" was unrelated to Quinter's lawsuit against Volkswagen, and was thus a violation of the Protective Order.On November 19, 1980, two days before the full evidentiary hearing prompted by Volkswagen's petition, it was revealed in Bloch's deposition testimony that Bloch had given the Index List to a lawyer in Florida named Anthony Provitola, who had hired Bloch as a consultant in another case against Volkswagen. At the evidentiary hearing on November 21, 1980 before Judge Cohill, to whom the case had again been assigned, the deposition testimony of Bloch was admitted into evidence and offered as part of Volkswagen's prima facie case against Bloch.
The district court concluded that Bloch violated the Protective Order in two ways: one, by using the Index List as a "stage prop" on "20/20," and two, by giving the Index List to Attorney Provitola. 4 Bloch was assessed a $10,000 fine to compensate Volkswagen for losses, by way of costs, expenses and attorneys fees, incurred because of Bloch's violation of the Protective Order.
II.
A. We need consider only two questions on this appeal: whether the district court's Protective Order was applicable to Bloch and, if so, whether, and to what extent, Bloch violated the Order. Bloch argues that the Protective Order, by its own terms, did not apply to him because he was only an expert witness and was neither the "plaintiff nor his counsel" referred to in the Order. Bloch, however, need not be expressly named in the Protective Order in order to be held liable for civil contempt. Thompson v. Johnson, 410 F.Supp. 633, 640 (E.D.Pa.1976), aff'd mem., 556 F.2d 568 (3d Cir. 1977). See also, Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2960 at 589 (1973). A person who is not a party to a proceeding may be held in contempt if he or she has actual knowledge of a court's order and either abets the defendant or is legally identified with him. Thompson v. Johnson at 640, quoting Alemite Manufacturing Corp. v. Staff, 42 F.2d 832, 833 (2nd Cir. 1930).
There is no question that Bloch had actual knowledge of the Protective Order, as he was given a copy of the Protective Order by Quinter's counsel, Wallace. Bloch attempts to escape from under the scope of the Order by arguing that contradictory statements of the district court militate against finding him legally identified with Quinter and Wallace. 5 In his opinion of March 31, 1981, Judge Cohill found that "(t)he plaintiff and his counsel retained Bloch to serve as an expert in the litigation, thus making him their agent. We hold this relationship...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Gregory v. Depte, s. 89-1260
...per can sanction is compensatory, it must not exceed the actual damages caused the offended party, Quinter v. Volkswagen of America, 676 F.2d 969 (3d Cir.1982), and must be based on evidence of a complainant's actual loss. National Drying Machinery Co. v. Ackoff, 245 F.2d 192 (3d Cir.), cer......
-
United States v. Juror No. One, Criminal Action No. 10–703.
...United States v. Pozsgai, 999 F.2d 719, 735 (3d Cir.1993); see also Hicks, 485 U.S. at 632, 108 S.Ct. 1423;Quinter v. Volkswagen of Am., 676 F.2d 969, 974 (3d Cir.1982). Although civil contempt proceedings are ordinarily a part of the underlying action, criminal contempt proceedings are “se......
-
Nagy v. Dewese, Civil Action No. 09–3995.
...404, 29 U.S.C. § 1104(a)(1)(B). DeWese may not “rely merely on bare assertions, conclusory allegations, or suspicions” Fireman's, 676 F.2d at 969, to rebut the substantial evidence plaintiff has presented in support of his claim for breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA. Because DeWese offer......
-
KSM Fastening Systems, Inc. v. H.A. Jones Co., Inc., 84-1568
...& Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil Sec. 2960 at 591, and cases cited therein; see also Quinter v. Volkswagen of America, 676 F.2d 969, 974 (3rd Cir.1982); A.H. Robins Co., Inc. v. Fadely, 299 F.2d 557, 559 (5th Cir.1962); Fox v. Capitol Co., 96 F.2d 684, 686 (3rd Cir.1938). If ......
-
Protective orders, property interests and prior restraints: can the courts prevent media nonparties from publishing court-protected discovery materials?
...Orders Bind?, 44 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 1081, 1083 (1983). (214) See Krzton, supra note 213, at 1083. (215) See Quinter v. Volkswagen of Am., 676 F.2d 969, 972 (1982) (observing that the nonparty "need not be expressly named in the Protective Order in order to be held liable for civil contempt").......